Stunning 82-year-old hospital patient with Taser was justified

Stunning 82-year-old hospital patient with Taser was justified: report

RCMP were right to use a Taser against an 82-year-old patient at a hospital in Kamloops, B.C., according to a new report from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

An RCMP officer used a stun gun to subdue Frank Lasser after he allegedly threatened an officer with a knife at the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops in May 2008.

Lasser was a patient at the hospital when a nurse noticed early one morning that he had a knife and called security and eventually police. Three RCMP officers responded to the call.

Lasser, who was in the hospital due to pneumonia, later insisted he was frail and his memory was impaired by drugs at the time, and the former prison guard suggested "a couple of guys" with a blanket could have easily subdued him without using a Taser.

Dziekanski was immigrating to Canada from Poland and spoke little English. He died on Oct. 14, 2007, shortly after being stunned up to five times by the RCMP Taser. He had been wandering the airport for hours and became agitated after a series of communications breakdowns kept him in a controlled area.

Dziekanski, 41, died in the secure arrivals area of Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, 2007, moments after he was shot with RCMP stun guns. His death ignited an international debate about the police use of stun guns.

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Mother 'angry' and 'disappointed'

Zofia Cisowski, Dziekanski's mother, said Friday that she was "surprised" and "disappointed" about the Crown's decision.

"I am so angry. I am so surprised that they made a decision like that. I am disappointed," Cisowski told CBC News.

Cisowski also said it's unfair to her son that the Crown stated on Friday that he was going through alcohol withdrawal when he was jolted by the Tasers.

The Crown was trying to imply that her son was alcoholic, which he was not, Cisowski said.